2:57pm: Australia's top financial regulators say there is room for more competition in the $1.85 trillion superannuation sector, but they have failed to back the most radical proposals to bring down fees.

The high cost of super is a key focus of financial system inquiry chair David Murray, who observed in his interim report there was "little evidence of strong fee-based competition" and super costs were higher here than overseas.

The comments have sparked a fierce response from the powerful superannuation lobby, with funds arguing cost must be compared with performance.

But the latest submissions from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, Reserve Bank and Australian Securities and Investments Commission all say there remains scope for more competition in the retirement savings sector, notwithstanding some signs of improvement.

ASIC noted a "continued lack of fee-based competitive tension" in super, and it said this was influenced by the fact many members were uninterested in their super savings.

Funds often had opaque fee models and tended to compete on product features that were hard for consumers to compare, it said.

2:03pm:House price growth has reaccelerated at spectacular rates over the last three months, Christopher Joye notes on afr.com:

Nationally, house prices have surged at a 15 per cent annualised pace over the quarter ending 31 August with more expensive properties leading the way. Contrary to many claims (including the RBA’s), Australia’s housing boom has neither ended nor cooled with auction clearance rates spiking over 80 per cent in Sydney on the weekend.

Speculative investors in Aussie housing market now account for as large a share of new housing finance flows (almost 39 per cent) as they did during the 2002 and 2003 boom that caused the RBA so much grief. This explains why the share of risky “interest-only” loans has surged to 43.2 per cent in June, which is way above the 34 per cent average since March 2008.

And people are taking these interest-only products, which remind me of the teaser adjustable-rate investment loans that proliferated in the US before the GFC, despite the fact that borrowing rates are at all-time historical lows.

I expect the current boom, which is arguably turning into a bubble, to continue until the RBA starts raising interest rates. Importantly, you do not require mania or double-digit credit growth to have a bubble, as some pundits claim. What you do need is asset prices way above reasonable estimates of fair value and high levels of leverage, both of which Australia possesses today.

Credit growth numbers are only meaningful relative to incomes and the level of leverage. Like house price appreciation, credit growth is running at multiples of incomes and increasing leverage, which should give us all pause. Anyone not worried about current Australian house price dynamics is a fool.

This only ends two ways: higher interest rates and/or macro-prudential brakes on lending.

1:55pm: As takeover deals go, it barely registers, but for shareholders of Clearview Wealth a small life insurer and funds management outfit, it's been well and truly worth it.

Late last week, Clearview said it would buy a financial advisor, Matrix Holdings, for a mix of shares and cash worth $20 million - news that has pushed up the Clearview share price by 9 per cent so far today, to a peak 96 cents.

In the process, this has boosted Clearview's market cap by around $50 million - twice that of the value of the deal on the table.

1:41pm: The local sharemarket sat in the eye of an information hurricane today, CMC chief market strategist Michael McCarthy notes:

Sandwiched between the just completed company reporting season, and ahead of a central bank and macro data packed week, shares marked time on low volumes. After an initial burst of enthusiasm, shares settled over the rest of the session to finish modestly higher.

Property shares fared best, led higher by the newly created Scentre Group, after media reports of potential joint venture partners for its New Zealand shopping centres. Telcos also fared well as Telstra regained some of the ground lost after going ex-dividend last week. Harvey Norman shares attracted attention, adding to Friday’s results based 8% rise with a further gain of 4%.

At the other end of the spectrum, broker downgrades for Woolworths saw staples sag, and the industrial sector fell after Toll Holdings traded ex-dividend and Qantas shares gave up some of last week’s spectacular post result rise.

China manufacturing data dampened sentiment, and ahead of RBA and ECB decisions this week, and a rain of global data, investors largely waited for the next shoe to drop.

1:28pm: The most positive surprises of the season (based on a combination of share price reactions and earnings revisions) were delivered by Cochlear, Orora, Caltex Australia, CSL, Arrium, AMP and Harvey Norman, UBS says.

But the investment bank's main takeaway from this reporting season is that dividends have surprised on the upside, while on the flip side companies have a more subdued growth outlook:

The Australian market looks set to record EPS growth of just over 12% for FY14. However, this was boosted by a (likely short lived) bounce in mining sector earnings. Ex-resources, earnings appear set to grow 9% - still a solid result.

The earnings growth rate slips to only 3% for the industrial ex financials (cap weighted), although the median industrial-ex-financial stock has posted FY14 growth of 6%. The underlying message on earnings growth is that the typical stock is growing earnings at a mid-to-high single-digit rate in FY14.

The FY15 market EPS growth expectation fell slightly, and now sits at a more subdued 5.5%, constrained by flattish estimates for the mining sector (which still have downside in our view) and a mid-single digit estimate for the banks. We believe the 9% expected growth for industrials ex financials is already embedded in the "expensive" forward PE of 17.7x, while the EPS revision trend is still moderately to the downside for the sector. The A$ still presents a big swing factor on FY15 growth with a lower currency required to hit the 5% market growth estimate, in our view.

Caltex was one of most positive surprises of the earnings season, UBS says. Photo: Glenn Hunt

12:58pm: Government agencies and policing bodies gained access to 84,949 Telstra customer records in financial year 2014, according to the carrier’s annual transparency report.

“Between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014, we received and acted on 84,949 requests for customer information,” the company said. “Of this, 2,701 were warrants for interception or access to stored communications.

“Outside of Australia we received less than 100 requests across all the countries that we operate in.”

Of the 84,949 cases of information handed over by the company, just 598 were in response to court orders while 2,701 were based off warrants for the interception to data. Around 6,202 were related to emergency calls for help to Triple Zero or similar services.

Telstra said the vast majority, 75,448, of these records were carriage service records, customer information or “pre-warrant checks” that determine whether or not a customer is still active at the company.

The Telstra Transparency Report’s release comes as the telecommunications industry negotiates with the federal government over what will be included in its highly controversial metadata storage scheme.

The $US3.7bn increase in USD positioning to $US23.4bn during the week was primarily against JPY, EUR and GBP.

Net short positioning in EUR was also increased by $US1.7bn. This was likely on the back of dovish comments from ECB President Draghi at the Jackson Hole symposium on August 22, suggesting that further easing measures in the Eurozone has become more likely. Total net short positions now stand at $US21.6bn, the highest level since June 2012.

Net long positioning in the AUD increased by 7.0k contracts ($US0.7bn) even as RBA Governor Stevens noted that the AUD/USD is still too high in his semi-annual testimony. Positioning in NZD on the other hand, has declined for the sixth consecutive week.

12:25pm: Even more listed companies are waiting until the last possible day to release their results, the Australian Shareholders’ Association says.

On Friday, the last day of the earnings season for issuers with June 30 balance dates, a staggering 262 different companies released their results, up from 243 at the end of the Febriary reporting season, ASA said today.

ASA chairman Ian Curry said the only mitigating statistic was the lower proportion of loss-makers, which fell to 67.5 per cent this season from 75 per cent in February.

Curry said it would be preferable if larger companies such as Woolworths, Virgin Australia, Harvey Norman, McMillan Shakespeare and Transfield Services avoided being associated with this last day deluge in future reporting seasons.

In terms of the timing of Friday’s announcements, 114 of the 262 were posted after the market had closed at 4pm, ASA said.

“This is particularly disappointing considering that investors, analysts, media and stakeholders are generally switching off from the market at this time of the week,” Mr Curry said.

“And when you consider the volume of losses disclosed late on Friday afternoon, it is clear that some companies are hoping their poor performance won’t be noticed in the deluge.”

And there are more laggards: until 9am this morning another 22 companies had filed, with six posting profits and 16 losses, ASA noted.

12:15pm: Well at lest we know where part of the 25 per cent stake of WDS which was sold through the market last week went to, with Thorney Investments admitting it has emerged with a 6.7 per cent stake in the mine servicing outfit.

Pala sold out late last week via a bookbuild, after emerging as a significant holder after WDS fell on hard times in 2010, at a time when litigation funder IMF sought (unsuccessfully) to launch a class action.

Pala sold at 92 cents via a book build and with WDS up another 2.5 per cent at $1.025 so far today, Thorney is already well ahead on the buy.

12:01pm: Chinese steel futures are continuing their decline, with buyers concerned by persistent overcapacity problems, especially after a weaker-than-expected performance by China's manufacturing sector in August.

The most traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended the morning at 2925 yuan ($US476) per tonne, down 0.4 per cent to a new low. The most active iron ore contract for September delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange finished at 622 yuan per tonne, down 0.8 per cent.

Iron ore for immediate delivery into China ended Friday up 0.7 per cent at $US87.90 per tonne, recovering slightly after nearly two weeks of consecutive daily declines. It fell 8 per cent over the whole of August.

The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) encouraged end-users to delay orders and run down their iron ore inventories on the expectation of cheaper prices, but traders said a sustained improvement this month looks unlikely.

"I think people are mistaken if they think there is going to be a big recovery in September," said a manager with a Beijing-based commodity trading house. "There is probably going to be more steel demand, and some restocking, but there is no solution to the overcapacity everywhere in housing, in iron ore, in steel products," he said.

ANZ said in a note that despite the Friday increase, the market remained "pessimistic" and steel mills were still only restocking "sporadically".

At the same time, steel production has remained close to an all-time high, with many struggling mills worried that any decision to cut output would reduce their cashflow and put them at further risk of closure.

The latest CISA figures showed that product inventories at steel mills reached 15.25 million tonnes in mid-August, up 4.68 per cent from the first 10 days of the month.

Analysts said the increase reflected the reluctance of traders to take on new stock, despite expectations of improving seasonal demand, with prices weighed down by the supply glut.

When we judge the performance of chief executives, most of us know the boss who's good at cutting costs isn't worth as much as the boss who's also able to improve the outfit's products and processes. Well, the same goes for treasurers and finance ministers - and their econocrats.

It seems the fiscal managers are running low on good ideas. But not to worry - the former Treasury and prime ministerial adviser Dr Ric Simes, now of Deloitte Access Economics, had some useful advice to offer in a speech to the Australian Business Economists last week.

Simes argues governments themselves have an important role to play in achieving the improved productivity performance the econocrats keep saying we need. Especially when "productivity" is better thought of as "technological progress" and that the figures for measured productivity aren't as important as actual improvements in welfare.

To me, this means econocrats should urge their masters to tread carefully when powerful business interests, fighting to shore up a technologically superseded business model, demand that governments make breaches of government-granted copyright a hanging offence.

11:15am: There is no doubt National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn has hit the ground running.

In his first month in the job, Thorburn has reshuffled NAB's top executive ranks, flagged further provisions in its United Kingdom arm, and on Friday he unveiled plans to float its United States interest, Great Western Bank.

It's common for new chief executives to "clear the decks", of course. But as some long-time bank-watchers point out, it's hardly the first time NAB has sent the market a signal it is taking action to fix things.

Deutsche Bank analyst James Freeman has said that rather than a clean-up, what NAB needs is "deck scrubbing" if it is to thoroughly turn around its reputation with investors.

10:55am:September is historically no friend of investors but experts are wondering if the first positive June quarter since 2009 could pave the way for a welcome break from tradition or play into the hands of Wall Street's most vexed month.

Shares sealed an unlikely win registering a 0.02 per cent gain for the second-quarter and advancing for the first time in five years over the three months to June 30.

"If you actually have a look at the June quarters we've had six negative ones in the past 10 years," according to Perpetual Investments head of investment research Matthew Sherwood.

"You can construct a reasonable argument that negative quarters we've seen in June have generally coincided with positive September quarters."

10:46am:Banks and miners are buoying the benchmark index, despite two rounds of manufacturing data from China coming in slightly below expectations.

As investors digest a mixed earnings season in the past two weeks, a local gauge of price pressures showed consumer price inflation at its lowest in seven months in August, adding to predictions of no rate rise when the central bank board meets tomorrow.

"Everybody's realising that the low interest rate environment, which they've been trying to call the end of for six to 12 months, looks like it's going to persist," said Chris Kimber, managing director of Kimber Capital.

"There's a whole group of people who have been in too much cash that start buying because they're afraid of missing out on ex-dividend season."

Tensions over Ukraine pushed up metals and oil prices with fears that the growing political crisis engulfing that country may hamper global demand for commodities.

Draghi’s August 22 comment at the Jackson Hole central bankers' conference that he will “use all the available instruments” to stabilise prices added to an already benign interest-rate environment that sent relative yields on Australian financial debt to seven-year lows.

That’s helping banks trim mortgage rates, providing the Reserve Bank with a de facto easing even as investors bet it will keep policy unchanged tomorrow for a 13th month.

“The likely action from the ECB will add to a very low interest-rate environment globally,” says Susan Buckley, Brisbane-based managing director for global liquid strategies at QIC Ltd. "You’ve got another major central bank potentially buying paper in the market, so that’s going to help bank funding generally speaking globally and that flows through to Australia.”

Traders are pricing in a 30 per cent chance of a rate cut over the next 12 months, according to swaps data compiled by Credit Suisse. But just about every economist expects the central bank to keep the rate unchanged at 2.5 per cent when its board meets in Adelaide tomorrow.

10:17am:Japan's Nikkei index has edged up 0.3 per cent, led by gains in some mid- and small-cap shares, but the advance is mostly capped on worries the Japanese economic recovery from a tax hike earlier this year may be weaker than initially thought.

Many large-cap shares are listless as geopolitical concerns added to an already shaky outlook for Japan's economy, due to soft domestic consumption and lacklustre exports.

"People can't come up with any scenarios for a rally in large-cap shares. So, they are taking the easy way out by dealing in smaller shares at the moment," says a trader at a Japanese brokerage.

There is a growing perception that Japan's recovery is not so strong after a 6.8 per cent contraction in April-June following a sales tax hike in April.

"The Japanese economic recovery seems weaker than initially expected. Consumption has fallen more than expected," said Hiroshi Ono, the head of equity investment at Sumitomo Life Insurance.

Such worries are probably the main cause of the Nikkei's underperformance in recent weeks, market players say.

10:02am: Turning back to local economic data - we did mention the focus is shifting from earnings to macro settings - falling commodity prices have delivered a big hit to profits for the mining resources sector.

Company gross operating profits fell 6.9 per cent in the June quarter, weighed down by a 12.2 per cent fall in mining sector profits, official figures show. Economists had tipped a 3 per cent decline over the quarter.

Meanwhile, business inventories - unsold stock - rose 0.8 per cent in the quarter, coming in ahead of estimates for a 0.3 per cent rise.

JPMorgan economist Tom Kennedy said mining companies had been hit by falling commodity prices and the general move lower in the terms of trade.

‘‘At the same time the inventory build was based on the mining sector, so its clearly a big factor,’’ he says.

Kennedy said the weak company profits figures and the strong inventories data should offset each other and he is leaving his forecast for Wednesday’s economic growth figures unchanged.

Broadly speaking, today's PMI reading suggests that downwards pressure on the economy, as a result of slowing investment in sectors with overcapacity, particularly property, is no longer being fully offset by policy support measures.

The weakness should not be cause for significant concern since it reflects a welcome correction in sectors which have suffered from overinvestment. Meanwhile, the risk of an imminent hard landing appears small — policymakers have plenty of tools with which to fight a rapid drop off in growth and we expect more targeted measures to be rolled out in coming months.

Indeed, policymakers appear to be responding to the current weakness. The People's Bank allowed interbank rates to edge down last month and also expanded its relending and rediscount quotas to support lending to small firms and to the agricultural sector. Last week, the State Council pledged to speed up the approval of more infrastructure projects while some local governments further loosened property controls.

That said, policymakers don't appear phased by the prospect of slightly slower growth for the rest of the year. Although we expect them to continue to fine tune policy in response to the incoming data, they have so far stopped short of the kind of stimulus likely to drive another rebound in growth of the kind seen in Q2. As such we continue to expect a gradual slowdown in coming months.

9:48am: China's vast factory sector grew at its slackest pace in three months in August as growth in output and new orders cooled, a private survey showed, adding to worries that the economy is losing momentum despite government steps to steady it.

The final HSBC/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped to 50.2 in August - just a whisker below a preliminary reading of 50.3 - from July's 18-month high of 51.7.

It was the lowest reading since May, though the PMI stayed for a third consecutive month above the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from contraction.

An official gauge of China’s manufacturing also dropped, suggesting the central government will have to step up stimulus to meet its expansion target of 7.5 per cent this year.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index was at 51.1 for August, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said today in Beijing, slightly missing analysts expectations of 51.2 and compared with 51.7 in July. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

The report follows a fall in the preliminary reading of a private manufacturing gauge for August and weaker-than-expected credit, production and investment data for July, suggesting the economy is losing momentum. A pullback in manufacturing, coming as the property market slumps, adds pressure on the government to boost stimulus.

‘‘Downward pressure on the economy is evident since July,’’ says Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia. ‘‘The recovery in the second quarter can be attributed to stimulus measures such as railway investment and social housing construction, so that is not steady.’’

9:43am: A private gauge of price pressures showed consumer price inflation at its lowest in seven months in August, a welcome sign of moderation after higher readings in the second quarter.

The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute's monthly measure of consumer prices was unchanged in August, following a 0.2 per cent rise in July.

As a result the annual pace of inflation slowed to 2.5 per cent, compared to 2.6 per cent in July and a top of 3.0 per cent in June. That was the weakest rate since January and right in the middle of the Reserve Bank of Australia's long term target band of 2-3 per cent.

"The signal from our gauge is that inflation pressures have moderated in the quarter," said Annette Beacher, TD's head of Asia-Pacific research. "The RBA continues to express uncertainty about Australia's economic health once the mining boom ends, hence for tomorrow's board meeting we expect more of the same 'stability in interest rates'."

The gauge suggested the official measure of consumer prices (CPI) might rise by only 0.2 per cent for the entire third quarter. Such a soft outcome would pull the annual pace down to 2.5 per cent, from 3 per cent in the second quarter.

The survey showed price rises for fruit and vegetables, furniture and furnishings, and newspapers, books and stationery. These were offset by falls in health, petrol, and holiday travel and accommodation.

Fruit prices are on the rise, but overall inflation seems to be slowing. Photo: Max Mason Hubers

9:16am: The stubbornly high Australian dollar is weighing on the economy and the central bank should consider cutting the interest rate this year, some investors are saying ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly board meeting.

The Australian dollar is buying US93.25¢, remaining firmly stuck above US92.00¢, where it has been trading since March.

The fund managers’ case for slashing the interest rate comes as the high Australian dollar has been blamed for high unemployment, low credit demand from businesses and dragging export-led growth.

While no economist expects the RBA to change tack on rates at Tuesday’s meeting, investors point out that falling commodity prices, a declining gap between local and overseas bond interest rates and the stronger US dollar have failed to lower the value of the local currency.

9:09am: The net profits of China's listed companies grew slightly faster in the second quarter in line with the country's improving economic performance, although the first half was weaker than the same time last year, an official newspaper says.

Second-quarter profits grew 11.4 per cent year on year from 8.08 per cent in the first quarter, the Shanghai Securities News reported.

But year-on-year growth of 9.47 per cent in the first half of this year lagged a rise of more than 11 per cent in the first half of 2013, reflecting the longer-term slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

China's economic growth picked up slightly in the second quarter as a burst of government stimulus paid dividends, although analysts said Beijing would likely need to offer more support to meet its annual growth target of 7.5 per cent as the property market hit hard times.

China's 2558 listed companies posted combined net profits of 1.27 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, the newspaper said.

Property was one of the worst-performing industries, with total net earnings falling 6 percent in the first half from a year earlier, it said.

"I am occasionally reminded by the ATO that tax is a competition issue, and that a late-submitted BAS is unfair to competitors. But my competitors as a furniture maker include the likes of IKEA, who I understand is a charity registered in the Netherlands that pays no tax whatsoever in Australia. How is this fair, and how are we to encourage home grown entrepreneurs?" Email from a reader, Dave.

Dave makes a solid point. It is not just individuals who suffer from the failure of government to police big tax avoiders. It is local businesses too, small and large, forced to compete on the same playing field as their multinational rivals. The latter enjoy an advantage of scale and far lower funding costs and pay negligible tax.

It is the sort of mismatch you would expect to find in a lopsided junior school sporting contest.

Furniture retailer Nick Scali, an ASX-listed company, has just booked a pre-tax profit of $20 million and declared tax expense of $6 million for a bottom line of $14 million. Year in year out, Nick Scali pulls its weight, paying close to the 30 per cent corporate rate.

Same deal for David Jones and Myer, who also operate in homewares and pay full freight on the tax front.

Dave is not entirely right about IKEA. The flat-pack giant pays a smidgen of tax but he is definitely on the right track.

8:36am: Capital city housing markets have had their best winter since just before the run-up to the global financial crisis, according to RP Data.

Prices for capital city dwellings rose 4.2 per cent over the three months to the end of August, the strongest winter growth since the same time in 2007.

The surge was once again driven by the Sydney and Melbourne markets, which clocked increases of 5 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively, according to RP Data. Canberra was next with a rise of 2.1 per cent, while all the other state and territory capitals posted rises of 1.5 per cent or less or, in the case of Darwin and Hobart, slight contractions.

RP Data research director Tim Lawless says surging property values in Australia's two biggest cities have been a feature of the property landscape for more than five years.

"Over the latest growth cycle we have seen Sydney dwelling values increase by 27.2 per cent and Melbourne values up by 19.5 per cent," he said. "Sydney and Melbourne were also the strongest performing cities during the 2009-10 growth cycle.

"Since the beginning of 2009, we have seen values rise by a cumulative 50.1 per cent and 46.1 per cent, respectively, in Sydney and Melbourne," Lawless said.

He forecast another strong house auction season, which officially got underway at the weekend.

8:06am: The Australian Securities Exchange has been dealt a fresh blow, with global market-making giant Optiver deciding to cease trading on the local bourse in a move that threatens to reduce liquidity in the equity options market.

Optiver’s Asia-Pacific chief Luke McElnea confirmed the decision made last week via email to the AFR. “Optiver Australia has ceased to operate as an official market maker for Australian Exchange Traded Options (ETOs) and other listed financial products,” he said.

“In order to make the best use of our resources at this time, Optiver is shifting its trading focus to other markets in the region. Optiver’s Sydney office will remain the location of our regional headquarters.”

The move is also a blow to industry debate on the internationalisation of Australia’s financial services industry, as part of banking industry veteran’s David Murray’s stocktake of the local system and its infrastructure.

Amsterdam-based Optiver houses about 240 employees at its Sydney office and was last year voted Australia’s best place to work in an annual BRW poll.

The company’s decision to pull the plug on trading the Australian market follows a similar decision last year by IMC Financial Markets, also based in Amsterdam.

The exodus of these global market makers is likely to have a marked effect on local liquidity, particularly as the ASX is already grappling with a sharp decline in equity options volumes.

7:59am:Manufacturing conditions worsened slightly in August compared with July, according to the latest Australian Industry Group (AiG) Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).

The AiG said this morning the top-line index figure dropped 3.4 points, to 47.3, on a seasonally-adjusted basis. The three-month moving average also moved lower in the month, to 48.9 points, where readings below 50 indicate contraction.

The strength of the Australian dollar was partly to blame for the softness, while companies also cited the slow transition of the economy away from mining infrastructure.

Among the eight manufacturing sub-indices, only large food and beverages and smaller wood and paper products expanded in August.

Across the whole PMI, production, new orders, sales, employment and supplies were all below 50, indicating contraction at all levels of manufacturing. Manufacturers also ran down their inventories at a faster pace in August, with the stocks sub-index down 4.9 points at 43.2.

"The manufacturing sector retreated from the cusp of expansion in August with production, sales, new orders and employment all going backwards," Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said.

"While exports lifted in August, many respondents expressed ongoing concern about the persistent strength of the Australian dollar, which is maintaining the intensity of import competition," he said.

7:47am: One that caught our eye in the AFR this morning: Real estate agents and property lawyers are willingly helping foreign investors to illegally buy prestige homes in Melbourne and Sydney, says buyers’ agent David Morrell.

Mr Morrell said foreign buyers without the Australian residency requirement to own existing property and who did not speak English were buying up big land banks in blue-chip suburbs such as Toorak and Hawthorn while the Foreign Investment Review Board took no action.

Mr Morrell likened the powers of the FIRB to “a slap in the face with a wet lettuce”. He said estate agents, whom the FIRB relied upon to report foreign buyers flouting the rules, were looking the other way in return for higher commissions.

“The lawyers are also getting something out of it, so they’re not going to dob in their clients,” he said.

In his submission to the FIRB, Mr Morrell said the problem was most severe at the top end of the market (homes priced above $10 million) and those priced between $1.5 million and $3.5 million in the inner cities.

He said Chinese nationals were buying homes at 20 per cent to 30 per cent premiums to the local marketplace, causing a domino effect where other vendors believe their properties are worth more, meaning local buyers cannot compete.

“At a recent Toorak auction, where the reserve was exceeded by 30 per cent, there were three Chinese nationals competing, neither spoke English or understood the process and literally just kept their hands in the air.”

But he said a proposal to impose extra stamp duty charges on foreign buyers of real estate, which was reported in AFR Weekend, being considered by a parliamentary committee examining housing affordability would have no impact on the activity. “Foreign buyers will just wear it as a cost. It won’t sway them.”

7:38am: Locally, a welter of economic data this week will confirm soft second-quarter gross domestic product and point to whether or not the rebalancing of the Australian economy has gathered momentum since the end of June.

Private sector consensus has gathered around quarter-on-quarter GDP growth of 0.2 or 0.3 per cent, just below the 0.4 per cent implied in the Reserve Bank of Australia's own policy settings.

The weakness is owed partly to the relative strength of the first quarter, when output expanded by 1.1 per cent, thanks largely to an unusually benign cyclone season and the consequent lift in export volumes.

Net exports, by contrast, are expected to be negative in the second quarter as the dollar stubbornly hangs on to uncomfortably high levels, while slightly disappointing business investment data has also forced a last-minute downgrade of GDP estimates by most banks.

Some forecasters, among them Macquarie Securities analyst James McIntyre, have not discounted a flat or even negative figure, with much depending on non-farm inventory data and other business contributions - including gross operating profits - due today. The last time output shrank in a quarter was in early 2011, and that was related to the devastating floods across Queensland.

There are also figures out this week on nominal wages growth and sales, which will provide more clues on the income and production measures of GDP, the total figure on which will be released on Wednesday.

7:31am:With eurozone inflation sinking to a 5-year low of +0.3 per cent per annum, the ECB meeting on Thursday will remain the focus of market attention this week, amid rising expectations that a historic QE program in the world's largest trading bloc is only a matter of time, Perpetual's head of investment markets research Matt Sherwood notes:

In dealing with the euro crisis, the ECB so far has done nothing other than say they will do something and this is one reason why the regional inflation rate continues to inch towards the dreaded deflation zone. While the decline in European inflation in July may have been sparked by lower food and energy prices, if it persists it will dampen inflation expectations and will begin to impact consumer behaviour.

Indeed, the longer it declines towards negative territory and nothing is done, the more the market will discount ‘talk’ of action and the more ECB President Draghi will be viewed as dithering like Emperor Nero while Rome burnt in 64 AD. The cushion from deflation is getting less and less and market expectations are increasing by the day, but markets need to understand that the problem of deflation is not completely monetary in its nature and as such the solution does not solely lie with the ECB.

Indeed more fiscal action is required to boost demand and reforms are needed to free up the labour market and tax system to boost investment. The problem with that is that Europe already has reform exhaustion and the results from such reforms take many years to become visible. And time is one luxury that Europe simply doesn’t have.

Will he or won't he launch quantitative easing? ECB chief Mario Draghi will take centre stage this week. Photo: Bloomberg

7:22am: In local corporate news this morning, APN News and Media is considering whether to spin off its New Zealand assets as the group assesses strategic options to help battle a volatile advertising market.

The media company has retained corporate advisor Grant Samuel to help assist it with its New Zealand operations, with a listing on the New Zealand stock exchange one option being considered.

APN’s New Zealand assets include The New Zealand Herald, regional newspapers, The Radio Network and GrabOne - a group buying website.

In August, APN reported a 77 per cent jump in half-year profit to $22.6 million. The surge in profit was helped largely by the performance of its radio acquisitions. During the half, APN bought full control of the Australia Radio Network and NZ’s The Radio Network.

While revenue growth was small, up just 3 per cent, improvements in the radio business helped outweigh the declining publishing assets.

The crown jewel in APN’s radio assets KIIS has benefited significantly from the defection of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O, who joined the network from Southern Cross Media’s 2Day FM.

7:12am: Local shares are poised to open flat, as a hectic corporate earnings season starts to fade and focus shifts to macro events such as RBA meeting on Tuesday and ECB's decision on more monetary easing on Thursday.

Financial markets were quiet on Friday ahead of today’s US Labor Day holiday, despite the busier data flow, ANZ notes. Attention was fixed on headlines around the Russian presence in Ukraine, given the volatility that developments there provided earlier in the week.

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All u buyers...beware it's a holiday in US tonight.It is fascinating how punters close out positions on a weekend but are happy to go back in on Monday. Somehow the waters are safer!!

Commenter

Ox

Location

Kensi Pk

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:11AM

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Great day and surprised by it.ORG upNAN new highsMSB mesoblast-off ,stoppy triggered then fell to 3.98..picked up on the rally and it hasnt backtracked....5,75 here we come, well maybe.love/hate, but waiting for a pulse in UXCRBA tomorrow?? US open tonight, might be another week of swings.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:26PM

@ John BB. You did say on Friday that 'everytime you were 100% confident you were 100% right, and you were 100% confident that we were all DOOMED"

I read it like many other posters and laughed so hard I nearly cried. You're tremendous comedic value on this blog. Allan, too, is great for a laugh. He has become a parody of himself; side splitting mirth reading his hilarious posts. Tremendous comedic value, but I wouldn't suggest anyone take investment advice from them.

Truth is over time the Australian population will continue to grow, with house prices and good Australian companies along with it.

NOTHING the likes of you or Allan can say will stop that! Get on board and make some money out of this growth, (I've made LOTS and fully intend to make more!) that way you both may not be so bitterly resentful in another 10years time.Cheerio!

Commenter

Herman

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:08PM

John & Allan - you got some fans here!

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:18PM

"everytime you were 100% confident you were 100% right, and you were 100% confident that we were all DOOMED"....

In fact I've done psychological testing for various employment reasons that have proven that when I'm 100% confident, it's very likely I'm 100% right..When I'm 50% confident it's neutral...Get it?....Not that funny really to have made you cry...It's just a superior sense of reality to the population in general....I'm extremely likely right and you're extremely likely wrong...Sorry, but good you got a laugh out of it.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:22PM

The only problem is they influence the less experienced and more gullible who read their postings. Fighting a rising or falling tide is very hard in the sharemarket. Best to stay with tide trend from my experience until the tide turns.

Commenter

It's All About Making Money

Location

Lennox Hd

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:26PM

Kudos to Al. Since his warnings, house prices have doubled. Heck thats an extra $300k. Onya.

Commenter

FHB

Location

waiting for the bust

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:47PM

Good morning traders!!!

MTU is so close to 30%! Hopefully we have a good week. Lets go MTU! Go Son! Go!

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:36PM

Can finance editors of the SMH ask the government for an assurance there'll be no bail ins (as have happened throughout Europe) in Australia please? Could we also ensure bank deposits are the very first (that's very first, even before banks executives) to be paid out after bank failure? Thanks.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:23PM

Wee the Oz Bank Guarantee covers all deposits up to $1 million (so that sort of precludes bail ins). But in reality the whole "national guarantee" thing is a bit of a farce. Governments of the day will deal with the conditions of the day regardless of what 'promises' they made earlier. If a couple of Oz banks fail (then the nation will probably be in a lot of trouble anyway) and if the government decides to take half of everyone's savings then they will.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:17PM

are we still in a bull market?

thought we were heading for 3400

Commenter

bodacious

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:22PM

...."The bear likes his meat fresh and full of delicious, juicy hope."....

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:18PM

Just tried my internet speed (with Optus) and download speed came in at 19mbps. Australia is number 55 in the world presently in broadband speeds with Romania trashing Australia at average speed of 55mbps.

Here is the link: http://www.speedtest.net/

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:12PM

I know, I've just returned at end of June. The Romanians have fantastic Internet service, among others. The only difference between these two countries are that the Australians love to boast of themselves, (although mediocre in most respects), whereas others such as Romanians are the quiet achievers, delivering high quality service. Then again, in Australia we have....we have....oh yes, of course, real estate LOL. (actually Romanian real estate far far better quality, excellent position, close to the best Europe has to offer and great prices, go check it out and stop buying expensive mediocrity down under).

Commenter

Classy

Location

Sydney (for now)

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:47PM

So what...Why would we want more speed?

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:52PM

John BB, because you might soon see Romania overtake Australia.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:28PM

@Johmbb Remember back in the day when electricity was first put into homes. Every new house had ONE power point. Why on earth would you need more. Now look at us 2-3 power points per room, TV antennae plug per room, phone plug in each room, wireless internet all over the house. If the capacity is there we will find a way to use it but at the moment not quite sure how.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:29PM

Jesus, only in this country would you get a question about why internet speed matters? Well done John BB.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:32PM

Gee Allan, JohnBB and Liberator are just about going into meltdown today; I'm guessing 30 posts between them? Or more accurately, one post repeated 30 times, on top of the thousands of times they've said the same thing day in day out for years now.

I suppose we can cut them some slack.

Can you imagine how devastating it must be to be at the rear of the Melbourne Cup field, telling yourself and everyone who will listen that the leaders will come back to you, only to watch them relentlessly zip further away in front?

Anyone who hasn't been long the property and share markets the last two years is so far behind now that I suppose the level of hysteria is to be expected.

Commenter

pass the red

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:03PM

Yep on the same page as you @ptr, notice Mitch is strangely quiet today though, must be his RDO!

Commenter

team al

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:43PM

..." Melbourne Cup field, telling yourself and everyone who will listen that the leaders will come back to you, only to watch them relentlessly zip further away in front"....Excellent metaphor ......However wrong it is..I've told you many times. I'm doing fine. My investments are as such, I'll do well no matter what....People that think this BS will continue are deluded at best...The entire way our economy works is a sham....When it comes undone, it will be spectacular. I've tried my very best to outline why, and I don't get many serious arguments against it. Just knocking. That should ring alarm bells in itself. If I were so wrong, it would be very easy to discredit what I say. That doesn't happen.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:49PM

pass the red - this is your angry time isn't it?. You see, I live in a non-bias non-Sydney area where I witness businesses going to the wall on a weekly basis. I see most industries here struggling to keep the bag man at bay. I like to bring some reality and sense to the hysteric Sydney investor who thinks making money is simple...

Fact be had, my super fund is doing just as well as anyone can ask on this forum. 20% in 2 years and I have never had a down year with my money. I know it is hard to believe red man! I was also a home owner / seller until the middle of last year. I live in very safe territory now with no risk to the SEQLD property market.

Enjoy your afternoon!

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:15PM

@JohnBBHave you considered you might have mixed up cause and effect ? Investors (local and foreign) love the property market because its going up so rapidly and constantly, compared to anywhere else on the planet, not the other way around...

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:34PM

I have considered that...Australia is an absolutely wonderful place, it makes complete sense that the worlds rich would want to own something here...but...what about Australians?...Would it be cool for us to buy up say Bali? Of course not. What we are doing will prove to be incredibly short sighted and unbelievably stupid. It will not end well for Australians.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:16PM

@Peter...Are you suggesting there's no upward pressure from foreign buying? I disagree entirely..They are taking more than 1% of the existing market...That is massive...Despite the way irish phil tried to erroneously present the data.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:30PM

I agree with JohnBB for the most part. As a person who looks closely at my local market, I see little to no real action for the first home buyer. A 35 year old earning $75K a year can hardly afford the $400K starting price for property with job security in SEQLD suspect at best. The few who had properties sold and rent (saving about $250 a week vs owning a home).

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:26PM

Actually JohnBB, Australians are net creditors in relation to property held. We own more overseas than foreigners own in Australia so no real cause for concern

Commenter

Nick from Sydney

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:40PM

"I think people are mistaken if they think there is going to be a big recovery in September," said a manager with a Beijing-based commodity trading house. "There is probably going to be more steel demand, and some restocking, but there is no solution to the overcapacity everywhere in housing, in iron ore, in steel products," he said."

There goes the TOT hello recession.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:22PM

So why go long with a high cost producer like ARI with debt and overheads guru! because if anyone can al can!

Commenter

poor baby

Location

toorak

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:33PM

Ireland 2006 pre crash quotes:

"Property consultants CB Richard Ellis today dismissed last nights Future Shock – Property Crash’ programme, which explored the possibility of a housing market crash in Ireland over the next few years, as ‘irresponsible journalism’."

"THE soft landing for Irish house prices would appear to be official.

Last week, the consensus was that house prices would rise by about 5 per cent in 2007. The IAVI, Gunnes and IIB Bank believe we are on course to do what many thought was impossible. We are climbing down from heady heights in an orderly fashion."

""The lenders who have come up with the 100% [mortgage] have balanced the risk. Of 100 people that take out these mortgages, maybe 95 will be okay and five will get in serious trouble and the banks can take care of that trouble."

"AskAboutMoney.com post, 9 Nov 2006:

Further speculation about the future direction of house prices is banned on Askaboutmoney."

Housing boom!

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:18PM

On the subject of quoting a revisiting history here is a quote from Dec 2012:

"My post from June:

"Australia is an expensive place to do business, high costs and low productivity. House prices are going down and all the overgeared little landlords will default and trigger a series of huge write downs in the banks. AORD 2500 anyone?"

And guess what? The economy has deteriorated significantly since then, interest rates are a GFC emergency lows, house prices are still falling and the Spring selling season was a dud.

2500? is clearly predicated on the housing bust. The AORD is worth @ 3200 on earnings and a the housing bust could easily push it down to 2500.

And that would be @ 1997 levels whch is where house prices should be.

Enjoy!

CommenterAllanLocationPrahranDate and timeDecember 12, 2012, 5:27PM"

Commenter

Tim

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:07PM

So Allan, where are the complete housing estates lying empty in Australia - or with < 5% occupancy - as they were in Ireland prior to the crash.Sounds like you don't know much about what happened in Ireland - but is that a surprise ?Why bother with the details when all you want is to pick the data that supports what you want to believe.

Commenter

Don't usually bother

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:22PM

@Don't usually bother...Maybe you should look at the capex data, the personal debt data, the unemployment data, the wages data, the per capita GDP data. Look at the foreign ownership of Australian business. Then consider how much the government spent/borrowed recently to hold it all up....Then compare it to other countries. Australia is going broke.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:00PM

I see H Norman rallies...what car and what track? more info, please.

Commenter

Dirt Road ahead

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:54AM

Bubble recipe.

Sell 1% of existing stock to foreigners; check. limit development under the veil of the environment and village feel; check. Grow population by 2%; check. Guarantee the banks with taxpayers money; check. Let the bank run with whatever it wants to maximise profit; check. Convince the public it's normal; check.

I want to know how all the politicians got the recipe before everyone else.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:49AM

Will he or wont he launch quantitative easing? ECB chief Mario Draghi will take centre stage this week

Draghi has repeatedly stated, whatever it takes but last week it was claimed he stated markets were reading too much into QE for Europe. Problem is he doesn't have German support and their High Court ruled last year a vote in parliament would be required. Big decision - print money or let their banks fail with bad loans.

Perhaps because the rich Russians can't buy there anymore. They stand to have existing assets seized.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:25PM

If you haven’t been warned off by the doom merchants who frequent this space (100% certain that they are 100% right), take a look at the long term chart for TNE, one of Australia’s greatest technology companies. Who cares what “the market” is doing when you have money invested in a company like this? Not a hair out of place in over a decade. My valuation was around $3 at the 2013 full year report, and it is rising strongly into the 2014 reporting season. I am finding it hard to be glum.

Commenter

billyw

Location

avalon

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:26AM

Opinions sought please (pref thought out ones!). CFD's = the work of the devil, or useful tool? Makes sense to me they'd be useful, after all you decide to buy a share on analysis that it's price is going to go up, SO why would you not do the same if you thought it'd go down?

Commenter

jacey

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:20AM

Eons ago (before the current analysts were born or care to count in their analysis or before CFD / derivatives) the USA needed only $1.3 of debt to create $1 GDP growth.

In the lead up to the GFC, $3.5 debt was needed to fund $1 GDP growth.

All that extra debt finances CFD / derivatives, which do 0 / zero for GDP.

The finance industry has a lot to answer for.

Mr Buffet said it best, derivatives are a time bomb for those who deal in them and the economy in general and he is right but sadly the status quo in finance have prevailed.

A CFD = betting on two flies crawling up a wall.

Commenter

nolongerconfused

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:18PM

Added to BCI 1900 @ 2.57

Commenter

Wwwish Lion

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:06AM

good pick up @Wwwish

Commenter

Captor

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:29AM

What a great open to the market and how easily traders fell into the bull trap. Perhaps the SPI of -2 was right after all. The ex-div factor is weighing a little but that's going to get a lot worse in coming days.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:05AM

it is not really rocket science what is happening today!!

Commenter

get shorty

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:39AM

Traditionally Gold has a rather lacklustre month every August with most EU markets sunning themselves on southern beaches. But Sept has mostly been a time of rally in commodities and with the coming festival season in India and the tax free status for gold, i would hope this points to a nice uptick in pricing. Some stock pilings though appear to dump and run everytime the market reaches their trigger price to open the hatch.IMO

Sell while you can and take profit. That would be my position in the current market.

While SMSF and Foreign buyers ramp up the market, you can rest assured that at some point it will take a hit. Not a 5% hit either. Does my Superfund dabble in Property - Yes. Does it rely on it - NO!!!

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:50AM

Bought another 500 WPL @ $43.00. Expecting $50 by years end!

Commenter

Captor

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:33AM

You are talking to the wrong forum if you want to talk up your shares..

Commenter

Lean Too

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:01AM

I love oil...Don't know about WPL..Last time I looked (a year maybe) they were expensive....Owned them years ago though.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:00PM

Bought a pizza for $4.95 (large); expecting $9.95 by year's end.

Commenter

Raptor

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:14PM

"falling commodity prices have delivered a big hit to profits for the mining resources sector"

Hang on didn't the muppets tell us that they would just ship more?

I guess that's not working out too well then?

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:15AM

One minute spruiking how clever you are investing in ARI then bagging out iron ore miners! I'm confused your confused because I think you need to look at where the profit came from in their full year results! OH not much from steel guru and if propery,manufacturing and the economy is stuffed like you bash on about all day whom in their right mind would go long on ARI! the confused parrot allan would that who.

Commenter

poor baby

Location

toorak

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:27AM

"Broadly speaking, today's PMI reading suggests that downwards pressure on the economy, as a result of slowing investment in sectors with overcapacity, particularly property, is no longer being fully offset by policy support measures."

Housing boom!

All the economists agree there is little chance of a hard landing in China.

Expect a hard landing in China.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:12AM

wow! Allan can agree with the data when it full into his hair brain predictions, but when it doesn't nope it's the opposite of what he said actually lmao. so basically his thinking mirrors that of a muderous IS militant swept up in his own belief system.

Commenter

got

Location

brain

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:21AM

..."All the economists agree there is little chance of a hard landing in China.....Expect a hard landing in China"....

That's funny..I agree. rarely do they get much right...No surprise when the basis of their thinking is the horrendously flawed Keynes. Not to mention their shocking vested interests.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:06PM

Thanks for the laugh JohnBB.

The irony is delicious...! :-)

Commenter

Life Is Good

Location

The Real World

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:27PM

@got“Allan can agree with the data when it full into his hair brain predictions, but when it doesn't nope it's the opposite of what he said”

In psychological jargon this is called “confirmation bias” – placing undue stress on data which agree with a prior belief and discounting data which do not agree with it.

Being aware of the risks of confirmation bias is important for all investors as well as for everybody when they make a life-style choice.

Commenter

Dr Kiwi

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:32PM

All u buyers...beware it's a holiday in US tonight.It is fascinating how punters close out positions on a weekend but are happy to go back in on Monday. Somehow the waters are safer!!

Commenter

Ox

Location

Kensi Pk

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:11AM

About as safe as a NT billabong in crocodile breeding season.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:10AM

"Since the beginning of 2009, we have seen values rise by a cumulative 50.1 per cent and 46.1 per cent, respectively, in Sydney and Melbourne," Lawless said.

Oh, Allan dear? What are 'real' house prices if these are not?

Standing by for bear fantasy extrapolated data.......

Commenter

angry

Location

renter

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:06AM

The 80/20 rule comes to mind with such numbers.

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:26AM

"Property information services company RP Data said in a report today while capital city home values were up 0.7 per cent in September from their previous highs, they were still down 6.5 per cent for the month when adjusted for inflation."

Oh but apparently they have gone up 50% in the last 10 month? Puhhleease.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:56AM

that bloke lives in the land of denial. Give him a break.

Commenter

Hugo

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:21AM

'September', Allan? Given that this is September 1, that quote can't possibly be referring to 2014, now can it?

Commenter

guy

Location

Pymble

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:42AM

Hey Allan, both quotes are from RP Data. So are you saying they were accurate 11 months ago but wrong now?

LOL!

Commenter

Life Is Good

Location

The Real World

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:05PM

Yes, housing boom is certainly on. My friend sold her inner-easy city house for 3.3 mil after buying it for 1.5 mil seven years.Absolutely beats inflation, that Al guy has NFI!!

Commenter

NFI_Al

Location

Manly

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 2:47PM

The best winter for property markets in Australian capital cities since the GFC, today's report says. But property will crash.....eventually....won't it?

Commenter

alto

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:03AM

No, property prices will not "crash". Chinese buyers will support this market as approximately 150 million Chinese on the way down under between 5-10 years...FANTASTIC! LOVE IT!

Commenter

Realist

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:22AM

ORG touches $15.59, please stop showing off!

The guy who shorted at $12 would be doing it tuff and then there are those juicy dividends to pay as well.

Nup never crowed,and first time holding after studying and giving it the trice over..happy to accum for a lone,yep sure. Watch for the diversification kick in with self funded energy supplies to reduce costs and more capacity to keep up and shoulder to shoulder with the resource giant s.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:33AM

Even ARI has better quality ore than FMG. ARI up, FMG down. Doh!

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:01AM

Allan FMG did go ex divd hence the fall..doh

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

State the bleedinObvious

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:43AM

Always do your own analysis. ARI great company which has also ridden the Iron ore wave but is stuck with a huge steel division which has not performed well.

However tide can turn.

Good luck to ARI holders.

Commenter

Harry Rogers

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:17PM

article @ 11.16 am is a no brainer in my opinion. Been calling this for months!

Great for commodities and we can all make lots of spondoola!

Commenter

Xenaphon

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:43AM

sold down 1/2 holding NAN @ 98c costs out profits run.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:40AM

Chinese government has trillions dollars foreign reserve, if they keep buying our dollar, i don't think lower interest rates and commodity prices will effect the value of our dollar, unless we print trillions dollars for them, and why not now?

Commenter

aaa

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:40AM

Harvey Norman rallies again, lubbly jubbly.

I thought this retail model was supposed to be dead, buried and cremated? Obviously not!

Commenter

pinocchio

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:38AM

good on you ;) making money really hurts the haters on this thread.

Commenter

;)

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:48AM

Try to separate the business from the stock. Harvey Norman is priced at p/e 23. You can buy better performing businesses around the world for p/e 10.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:59AM

It was 3.70 14 years ago.

You have lost half your capital since then.

Oh dear.

Add to short at 3.70.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:07AM

Allan add to short, he has a short on every stock on the asx 3 times. unbelievable almost

Commenter

got

Location

brain

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:18AM

Buy Now, Pay Later always sounds good.

Harvey Norman going well = lots of people taking up Debt..Otherwise other appliance companies would be showing lots of growth.

Commenter

Credit for everyone

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:19AM

If the RBA cuts interest rates once, as I totally expect it to do, then it will have to cut rates 3 times to have any discernible effect. The first cuts will just be used by consumers to reduce their mortgage payments on their McMansions as fast as possible. Who would take on more debt with unemployment rising. Welcome to the Hockeynomics recession.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:34AM

Yawn

Commenter

Kane

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:53AM

I believe we are seeing the recession commencing right now with PMI down to 47 in manufacturing, and as you say rising unemployment and no real growth in business revenue and profits.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:01AM

*yawn

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:03AM

RBA will keep rate cuts for a real emergency.

The NZ Finance Minister summed it up best - "To influence the exchange rate you need a couple of hundred billion U.S. in the bank so they take you seriously. We’d be out in the war zone with a peashooter.”

The RBA claim property isn't overheated but I doubt they'll risk setting it on fire with lower rates, that aren't required.

Also be careful for what you wish for, lower rates signals a worsening economy.

Commenter

nolongerconfused

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:23AM

@nolongerconfused, reading some of the market reports during reporting season, the comments from the RBA & the opinions of the economic pundits, we already have a worsening economy. All we need now are the lower interest rates. But the RBA will cut too little, too late, as usual. Remember "Interest rates will always be lower under a Liberal gov't".

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:29PM

@Mitch,

I think the reason the economy is slowing is there is too much being invested in property. As for timing I think the RBA will wait until after Europe decide on money printing.

Shares are yet to reach the pre GFC levels but property is higher and in my opinion, is in a bubble. If a rate cut fuels property and not the rest of the economy, then we're set up for a far bigger problem.

Think back to era when Howard was Treasurer and there were different rates for housing. Something similar may need to be done,with lower rates only for business / FHO.

Property spruikers claim negative gearing is great as they get a tax deduction but with prices outpacing wage growth / ability to pay more, they'll call for lower rates to continue driving up prices.

Everyone wants above trend growth but the best scenario from here is below trend growth for property.

Commenter

nolongerconfused

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:34PM

Retail sales now the best in five months. Full time employment up 14,500 for the month.Woolworths food and liquor sales up 4.7% for the year,performing well and better than expectations,particularly in the second half.Clearly consumers have not been ''whacked'' by the budget as claimed by some. We are not in recession as forecast by the same individuals who like the Labor Party are simply exaggerating the Budget effects in a futile attempt to gain political mileage.Good times ahead for all retailers,,,staples and luxury.

Oh the market is less than half the price of Coles and Woolworths. 5Kg potatoes for 1.99.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:23AM

@ loki .. you really made me laugh this morning ... retail boom good times ahead .. your being sarcastic right!Not sure about you but I'm looking at the real world, looking round at my colleagues eating tinned tuna everyday for lunch on a budget just so they can pay their mortgages!

Commenter

RougeTrader

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:46AM

Tinned tuna, I feed that to my cat, but then I don't have a mortgage. That's why the RBA will have to keep cutting interest rates when it finally realises that it has no other choice, too late as usual. The lower the interest rate the bigger the loan people take out, the more desperate they are to pay it off and the less they spend elsewhere. The economy can get into real trouble that way.

LOL,,,,The facts speak for themselves,,The pessimistic forecasts of recession and declining sales were wrong.Don't let that stop you though,keep the negativity coming. It cracks me up.

Commenter

Loki

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:47PM

Leave IKEA alone. A formidable company with impressive growth and innovation. Last time I visited IKEA I got 13 meatballs instead of 12 so very happy. Have done my kitchen based on IKEA modules and looks fabulous.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:16AM

For those who are courting BCI :How many days so far that iron ore price is below days and how many more days that iron ore price needs to stay below 90 for BCI to call off its acquisition plan?

Commenter

UP and Down is Norm

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:13AM

I think it is 5 days now. 15 left to break the deal.

Commenter

Learner

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 1:37PM

SBM up 9.52%, maybe, just maybe the takeover is nigh!

Commenter

barbara

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:11AM

Volumes there but hey if there ever was a stock that you cant rely on i think this has one of the top spots.....

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:30AM

I expect SBM to fall further before any sustained rally can eventuate. could go to around 8 - 8.5 cents first.

Commenter

A Bodhi Nuisance

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:20PM

so fri, no one wants it and monday u can't hold it back.who understands market moods?

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:56AM

From the Economist:

China drastically reduces its ambitions to be a big shale-gas producer

In 2012 China's main planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, declared that the country would produce 60 billion-100 billion cubic metres of shale gas a year in 2020. It needed those forecasts to be accurate.

They weren't. Wu Xinxiong, the director of China's National Energy Administration, recently predicted that only 30 billion cubic metres a year will come on stream by 2020. That would barely meet 1% of China's energy needs now, let alone in 2020.

LNG Boom!

Commenter

4Seam

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:54AM

They get it from Russia for less than the the production cost in Australia.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:08AM

Is this Rpdata indicating a housing boom? or gee, there must be some serious inflation going on to be offsetting these returns since 2009. Over to you Allan.........

Commenter

angry

Location

renter

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:43AM

Real house prices haven't risen since June 2010. Foreign kleptocrats are paying 3x the value for flats though. Over to you...

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:53AM

real house prices = Allan's value for housing, sounds about right. if the pieces don't fit force them in with blunt brain ;)

Commenter

got

Location

brain

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:14AM

Nope real house prices are less inflation. Simples.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:57AM

Allan, you've previously claimed that there's been almost no rise in house prices in real terms for a decade. Now it's only 4 years apparently. And yet you claim there's a bubble. A bubble that hasn't risen for 10 years or 4? Doesn't matter which. It's not much of a bubble, is it? Not even a blister. Out of your own mouth......

Commenter

guy

Location

Pymble

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:49AM

"Over the latest growth cycle we have seen Sydney dwelling values increase by 27.2 per cent and Melbourne values up by 19.5 per cent," he said.

Oh, is this information correct or incorrect?

Commenter

angry

Location

renter

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:40AM

Did incomes rise 27% in the same period. Nope. False housing economy coming to a home near you! They also suggest Brisbane prices went up 7%... I went to a few Auctions the last month in the so called 'hot spots' and only one of the 5 I attended made it to market.

$490K+ for an outer burbs 2-bedder with excessive body corp and no parking spaces... NOPE PASS THAT IN AGENT MAN! I told the same agent before they went to Auction it was a dreamers price. The same agent told me it would sell before Aucton as they had multiple offers... yeah. I got a good laugh when it failed to make 'reserve'. Sydney buyers are off with the fairies.

Of course. That's because the politicians in this country are in on the rort.

Singapore can provide affordable accommodation for 70% of its populations but social housing in Australia is a joke because pollies want to be littlelandlords and hope to grow up into land barons.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:32AM

But there'll be a property crash regardless of that powerful backing from politicians in on the deal, just you wait.....and wait.....and wait.....

Commenter

guy

Location

Pymble

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:46AM

Nope, it's because the electorate doesn't want the millstone of public housing debt around it's neck. That isn't what governments should be doing. Otherwise no one would Prosper.

Commenter

No Public Housing

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:08PM

Like most Australian gutless CEOs and boards, NAB is now abandoning its international business operations. Desperate to maintain the big 4 Aussie oligopoly and profits, and terrified of the outside world. The same goes for WES with it gutless management team instead of investing funds in future business operations it just gives it back to the shareholders. Well I have got news for you Coles as well as WOW are running out of steam. WOW shows no real growth at all anymore. and will go the way Tesco's is going in the UK, where its share price fell 8% on Friday e.g. going backwards. The future belongs to innovative brave companies e.g. SEEK.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:29AM

Would you want these big businesses getting bigger and just absorbing more of their competitors. In the process by reducing competition, they drive up prices. What you make in sharemarket gains you and everyone else will lose several times over in an increase in the cost of living. Let these companies give back surplus cash to shareholders, preferably by fully-franked dividends, as with the TLS buy-back. You can then use the funds to buy shares that are pursuing growth, or even just for personal enjoyment.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:41AM

That's going to be the flip side of all this stimulus, companies have bought back shares and paid more dividends rather than invest in growth. Yield hungry investors have driven up prices and demanded more money be returned, but I think ultimately will lose out will much lower share prices.Surging equity and asset prices in the face and deteriorating fundamentals and geopolitical problems will burn plenty of investors when sentiment finally changes.

Commenter

MTD

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:19AM

Seek innovative !!!

Maybe circa 2000 but not now ..

Online recruitment is a mature industry and you need to ask yourself in what way has Seek updated its business model in the last 3 years.

What do they do now they didn't do outside of cannibalising the printed recruitment business away from the press.

Commenter

Joe the POM

Location

Geelong

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:20AM

Australian banks with 65% of their book in residential lending are sitting ducks. In the forthcoming recession at least one and probably two of the big 4 banks will need the government bailout. In order to be strong Australian banks and other companies will need to show they can make it outside of Oz and NZ.

Only weak boards and CEOs are following the present trend of ever increasing dividends. I ask you where is WES going to find growth and the same with WOW?

And of course SEEK is an innovative company. The CEO went into China where the company is growing strongly presently.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:08AM

Looks like the heat is coming out of the property boom, went to two auctions in Wahroonga during the week-end and both properties were passed in. Sorry to report there were no 300-400k bids over reserve and little interest by bidders to part-take.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:24AM

That's funny, I live in Brunswick, Melbourne and had two houses sell for over $1 million dollars in my street this weekend by auction. So that's two for falling prices and two for rising prices. If someone could chip in with one mor example we'll have a definitive idea of where the market is headed :o)

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:53AM

oh wow. good to know. that one example has replenished my faith that the price of property in Sydney is immediately on its way back to historical norms. is this for the whole of Sydney or just Wahronga?

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:02AM

403 Windsor Road, Baulkham Hills.

Advertised $500k+ sold at Auction for $840k. $345k above the advertised price.

Commenter

don don

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:10AM

Trying to sell a 40 year old neat 2 bedroom unit in Adelaide's premier seaside location for $375k. Can't get a sniff of interest!Rich folks from Sydney & Melb, pay that for a car! Where are these wannabe property moguls when u need them?

Commenter

Ox

Location

Kensi Pk

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:08AM

I really do admire your solid understanding of economics Viking, how does one come to this sound prediction from this Wahroonga example? Was there a formula applied? Sources of data accumulated besides these examples? Studies done by accomplished academics that appropriately reference their papers?

Commenter

Love

Location

to hear about it :)

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:09AM

FIRB approved over 5000 EXISTING properties to be bought by foreigners last year..Why?...We all know there were tens of thousands more illegally bought.

That's many many thousands of houses NOT AVAILABLE for Australians to buy.

Existing legislation provides for the confiscation of illegally bought properties, it also provides for agents to be prosecuted... I wonder if the rich buying foreigners and agents know this?

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:19AM

"the problem was most severe at the top end of the market (homes priced above $10 million) and those priced between $1.5 million and $3.5 million in the inner cities."Yeah, really squeezing out Aussie battlers, and first time buyers...........hmmm

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:37AM

The RBA estimates about 500,000 homes change ownership each year in Australia. So this problem of FIRB approved foreign ownership appears to be about 1% of the market.

As for people making secret illegal trades they might add another percent or two, although I doubt its as high as you'd imagine. As you point out they're risking the entire home to purchase this way.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:05AM

Perhaps you should check the price threshold that brings the FIRB into play

Commenter

Chris

Location

Manly

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:09AM

@JohnBB, Each and every one of those properties were available for Australians to buy. They just didnt want to pay as much. Are you saying you would take money out of the sellers pocket for your ideal?

Commenter

Wwwish Lion

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:35AM

@Irish Phil...Are you good at maths? Logic?

If the top tier is bought by rich foreigners...Leaving the second tier to be chased by the richest Australians...Then the third tier etc....Not that hard really.

@Wwwish Lion...Absolutely..Do you think it would be right or fair for Australians using their wealth to go to say Vanuatu or Bali, buy up all their RE and then charge the locals whatever we deem rent?...Where does it stop? I'd guess there's 50 million foreigners far richer than 99% of Australians...If we open our real estate to the world...Where's that eventual leave us? It's fine to have a entrepreneurial mentality, where hard work is rewarded,but we've got to use our brains as well. ATM we're not doing that and in a globalised world, we're going to t completely crunched by the weight of the globes rich. In fact that is exactly what s already happening. We need to be far smarter because the people in charge clearly are not.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:10AM

@JohnBB: yes, I am an accountant, so have a fair grasp of basic maths. We are talking about 1% of properties trading hands. If you are also good at maths, you will know that is a very small portion.

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:18AM

@Irish Phil..If you're an accountant you'd well know where to apply your numbers...Not only is it 1% (which we both know is BS and is way more), it's also 1% TAKEN AWAY from the market available to Australians to buy at reasonable prices. An exceedingly huge number given the very low number of new property entering the market in addition to over 2% population growth.......Are you directly benefiting irish phil? Yes?

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:31AM

@Irish Phil, JohnBB knows you were not born here and you should not buy property in Australia anyway ;-)

Commenter

Wwwish Lion

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 12:45PM

"Across the whole PMI, production, new orders, sales, employment and supplies were all below 50, indicating contraction at all levels of manufacturing."

Housing boom!

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:18AM

bubbles are the norm not the exception.

Commenter

Didier

Location

Soronette

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:44AM

Dear Allan Maybe you should get your own website and call it www.brokenrecord.com.au

Commenter

Again Surely not

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:45AM

we all know you want the market to fall champ, but when it does i will be there riding it down and back up, towelling you up with all my trades ;)

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:54AM

Are you still rabbiting on about nothing? How wrong can I guy be? Last year you were calling the 40% decline in housing and yet Melbourne has increased 15% - so you're 55% wrong - just like your CBA shorts at $68 that were a "gift".Stick to your day job.

Commenter

Pete

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:44AM

Pete are you rabbiting on still about prices rising?

They were higher on 2010.

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:24AM

"Open Sesame: Alibaba makes more profit than Amazon and EBay combined before IPO"

And they are undercutting Australian retailers by 50-80% with free postage.

Want a 16GB MP3 player? $15 inc. postage and sounds identical to an ipod. Over 30 orders in the last few months and all arrived in days and no returns.

But gee apparently they can't be trusted? Over to you Gerry.Gee but apparent

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:14AM

"Want a 16GB MP3 player? $15 inc. postage and sounds identical to an ipod."How's the menu system, syncing with itunes?It has wifi, etc?

You've got to read this to realise how utterly lopsided our tax system is...They want us to pay $7 to visit the doctor, and our smartest kids to be shackled with debt while the above goes on...What's with Australian government?

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:08AM

Look, there is one thing I have learnt about the Australian taxation system, you pay tax after ability. And that is Ability to THINK.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:22AM

there were some sobering tax statistics from this US documentary on abc2 last night.

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/park-avenue/ZX8703A001S00

Commenter

brian

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:31AM

Hitting defenceless pensioners, the sick, the unemployed, anyone on any kind of gov't benefit is always easier and with more immediate effect in solving a deficit problem, by cutting expenditure, than going after the big end of town and increasing the revenue side of the equation by making them pay their fair share of tax. However everyone of those people who suffer needless cuts has a vote. Big business, particularly those based overseas, have no votes, except those they can buy. This may explain why tax avoidance by multinationals continues to happen under govt's of both colours.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 9:07AM

@brian...looks very interesting..I'll keep watching it. We've entirely embraced US culture in the past 20 years and it's going to destroy us....Look at Brandis protecting US companies with anti pirate laws while we, the Australian consumer are robbed with every purchase. It's a disgrace. LNP are a disgrace.

@mitch...It's 100% why....Labor will win the next election. Let's hope they've learnt something. I can't wait to see the present mob kicked out.

@Viking..Not sure what you're getting at.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 10:18AM

@Doglover.."Your timeframe of 20 years is just ridiculous".....No, that comment is just ridiculous. Wealth takes time to build; it will also take time to squander the whole lot...20 years = movie Shawshank Redemption, time flies baby..The companies you refer to in the column on the left hand side are mostly foreign owned. We consumers have been gifted money from Australia's resource wealth, spending the wealth built by past generations, selling said companies on the left, massive personal debt (that benefits more foreign companies) and 400k people bringing their money into the country every 13 months, and now selling residential property....We consume all that money and hand it to the foreign owned companies in the column on the left hand side. Net result? Australia is less wealthy, sharing with more and more and more people. Debt, falling wages, population growing exponentially. It's a complete mystery where future income is coming from to feed Australia's consumers who are less and less productive. Not only have we lived off the fat, we've accumulated debt...We are in a wealth death spiral...If you can see good in all that, you are the absolute, ultimate optimist. I think what's far more likely is you are enjoying spending all of Australia's wealth in one generation. That's okay; just be honest about it.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 7:49AM

You spend the whole weekend stewing on that, did you?

Commenter

Doglover

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:05AM

@doglover of course he didn't. Don't you know he's filthy rich and 100% right with 100% confident ?

Commenter

got brain

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:12AM

@Doglover..Yeah.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:14AM

oh man, lmao hard this morning. why do people care about this thread so much? Allan where are you buddy? There is a housing boom in Sydney.

Commenter

Tin

Location

Man

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:17AM

Well said JohnBB. Pretty much spot on.

Just about any person I ever met who made good money was tied in with the last housing boom. Lucky fortune handed them their wealth by default and not smart money management or clever business ideas.

The current 'young' working generation (the under 30s) has inherited a total financial system hell bent on debt leveraging speculative assets for 'possible' future wealth generation.

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:31AM

@got brain. Stick to the issue. I've got way more money than I'll ever need. "100% right with 100% confident"....I didn't say that.

@Tin man...Maybe give it some thought and you might have something to add. Otherwise, don't bother.

You people are incredible...It's you I'm trying to warn..Take it or not....You know a clever way to go through life? If someone says something and your only argument is personal attack, it's you, that's missing the point.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:44AM

There's only ONE hope for Australia, only ONE true light and saviour...CHINA! The future is bright as more than 100 million Chinese on the way...fantastic.

Commenter

Oracle

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:50AM

Property market is completely dependent on foreign interest. Legislate that away and down goes property. So if you invest in property you are effectively putting your money at the whims of policy makers. Trust them if you want.

Commenter

Ryan

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:09AM

I always ignore your comments JohnBB.

But the "i'm 100% right with 100% confident" comment was too good of a laugh for me to not giving you some credit.

Commenter

got brain

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 11:15AM

iraq 3 well under way. syria getting bigger by the day. Israel did exactly as I said it would and has all but pushed palestine into the sea and just annexed another 400 hectares today as it prepares for Iran. Russian war well under way and China next. I wouldnt be going anywhere near a share market for the next several years.

Commenter

smilingjack

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 7:35AM

tin hats!

Commenter

Tin

Location

Man

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:10AM

War in the Middle East won't necessarily impact stock markets. We had a major war between Iraq and Iran throughout the 80s, with no impact. Even the oil kept on flowing through the Gulf with slightly higher insurance premiums for ships while in those waters as a result. Now Russia and the Ukraine is different, but there won't be a major war there. Just sanctions to cripple us all.

The main risk now is a hard-landing in China or a run on the US dollar.

Commenter

Dr No

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:10AM

What an idiotic post and advice, sorry.

Commenter

Uncle Sam

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:13AM

+1 Dr No

Commenter

GC

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:33AM

uncle sam - never seen you post here before? how is it idiotic? do tell.

Commenter

smilingjack

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:35AM

It all sounds a bit negative, it need not be. Whatever happens, even China invading, I won't even change my sugar is my coffee; I'll still have a spoon and a half...Only change is certain, nothing else and I love change.

Commenter

The Real Smiling One

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:44AM

@Tin Man....Do us all a favour and go and do some reading.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

September 01, 2014, 8:50AM

War is always good for business, provided it's not your territory that's being fought over. No matter how broke govt's are they always, always seem to find as much cash as is necessary to fight a war. Australia's latest effort in Iraq is going to cost a $billion at least and with a "Budget Emergency" there's no prize for guessing who is going to pay for it. More cuts to pensions and benefits and more taxes that aren't a tax.